Weekly Political Roundup

• In the ongoing tennis match that is Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal, the latest is that President Obama has told Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Carl Levin (D-MI) that he is committed to including repeal in the National Defense Authorization Act. Two Republican senators have expressed support for repeal—Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and John Ensign (R-NV). And Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) says he’s confident there are the 60 votes needed.
• Marriage equality might just be coming to Maryland this spring.
• Marriage equality is under threat from the new Republican super-majority in New Hampshire.
• Houston lawyer Phyllis Frye was appointed as an associate municipal court judge, making her the first transgender judge in Texas.

Around the world:

• Annabel Crabb of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation offers her analysis of why the Labor Party is refusing a conscience vote on marriage equality.
• The United Nations General Assembly passed its biannual resolution condemning extrajudicial, summary, and arbitrary executions and other killings. In 2008, it included a reference to killings based on the victims’ sexual orientation—but this year, Morocco and Mali introduced an amendment on behalf of African and Islamic nations that called for deleting the words “sexual orientation” and replacing them with “discriminatory reasons on any basis.” The resolution still specifically condemns killings for racial, national, ethnic, religious or linguistic reasons, and killings of refugees, indigenous people, and other groups. The amendment passed, and the resolution is expected to be formally adopted in December.
• In a reversal of its initial decision, the World Bank decided not to give matching funds to the “ex-gay” organization Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX) under the Bank’s Community Connections Campaign.
• France’s Constitutional Court will hear a case to determine if the country’s ban on marriage of same-sex couples violates the French Constitution.
• Chris Windows, a Conservative councillor in the U.K. who criticised gay actor Ian McKellen’s visits to schools was suspended by his party.

Chris Windows